


Summer Curls

by DontCallMeStraightOrCis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Autistic Luna, F/F, aka scottish hermionie, also please assume everyone is lgbt, and disaster bisexual harry just chilling in the background, are you here for miss granger being a sapphic disaster? then good news, including every single hp hc i have, welcome to my modern muggle uni one sided enemies to lovers fic, welsh weasleys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24146257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontCallMeStraightOrCis/pseuds/DontCallMeStraightOrCis
Summary: Hermionie most definitely doesn't like the strange girl in her class. Definitely.The girl seems oddly determined to weasel her way into Hermione's life, however. And, well, with just how determined she is, Hermione might just have to let her. She has always appreciated a hard worker, after all.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	1. The Classroom

The world was on the edge of summer, and the sun beamed in through the large windows, eager to completely tip over into June.

The room was already almost too warm; bare legs stuck to plastic seats, notepads became makeshift fans, and there was a lazy but displeased murmured echoing through the room. The chairs were all ranged in rows and split into two groups, separated by one thin line down the middle for people to walk through, and most had retreated to the back rows to avoid the sun.

Two lone people, however, stayed stubbornly at the front, left side row.

They were a woman and a man separated by one chair, currently occupied by a bag. The man was slouched in his seat, occasionally tugging on the collar of his rugby jersey, and the woman sat straight and rigid, a displeased curl to her lips.

“Can we please move back? I feel like I’m going to get heatstroke before the lecturer even gets here,” the man mumbled.

The woman rolled her eyes, tucking a stray black curl behind her ear.

“You can, but I’m not moving. The projection unit never works right, I won’t be able to see anything if I move back.”

“Hermione.”

“Harry,” the woman – Hermione - countered, “This isn’t even your class. If ye dinnae want to be here, leave.”

He scowled and shuffled about in his seat for a few seconds, but ultimately didn’t move.

“Got nowhere else to be. Dean and Seamus want the house to themselves to celebrate their anniversary, Neville and Ron are at work, and-”

“I get the picture. Why dinnae ye just go around town or something?”

Harry shrugged.

“Sounded boring. Besides, you owe me a Big Mac and if I’m here than I can make sure you buy it for me.”

Hermione aggressively typed in the date on her laptop. _That_ , she thought, _is the last fucking time I get drunk with this idiot._ As she thought this though, it was abundantly clear to even her that this was untrue. Ron’s birthday was coming up in a few days, and like hell was a Welshman not going to bring beer to the party.

“You’re rich Harry, you dinnae need me to buy you food.”

“Yeah, but it’s the principle of it.”

Hermione sighed and shook her head.

The doors opened, there was a quiet beep as someone tapped in, and the right first row had its first occupant.

A tall woman walked in, humming quietly as her yellow sundress swayed around her heels. She sat down elegantly, right in the middle of the row, and when she looked over, gave a wave to the other two.

Harry waved, Hermione crossed her arms and scowled.

“Hermione,” Harry hissed, “Don’t be a dick, wave back.”

She stubbornly stared ahead, and after a few moments, the other woman looked away. Her small smile was still in place as she began to get out her books.

“What the hell, why didn’t you wave?”

“Why should I have to wave? We’re not friends or anything.”

Harry pursed his lips and frowned.

“Why are you acting weird?”

“I’m being weird? What’s weird is that they let a girl who thinks aliens are real into an astronomy course.”

“Why do you care? It’s not like you’re in her class.”

“I dinnae, I just dinnae understand it, that’s all.”

“You share one optional class, if it bugs you that much, you can just switch you know.”

“Naw, I’m staying.”

“You’re just going to complain the whole time, right,” Harry murmured.

She elbowed him sharply in the side, still stubbornly staring ahead. He yelped and knocked her arms away.

“Shut it, you’re making a scene,” she complained.

“I’m making a scene?! You’re the who tried to knock my ribs out of place!”

“Dinnae be such a drama king, Harry, I barely- what are you doing?”

Harry paused, a plastic fork halfway to his mouth and cup noodles in hand. His glasses were steadily slipping down his nose and he awkwardly pushed them up with his thumb.

“What do you mean?”

Hermione blinked, mouth opening and closing as she searched desperately for any words that might help her comprehend what she was seeing.

“Are you eating that uncooked?” She asked.

“Nah, it was cooked, it’s just cold now.”

“…Why?”

“Well, you said I couldn’t eat it on the bus.”

“Well, you cannae eat it in class either!”

“I wouldn’t worry, I doubt Mr Lupin will mind. He’s always eating in class.”

Hermione jumped, heading turning sharply to the right, a strange sensation bubbling in her chest. She knocked her fist against it and scowled.

The other woman was stood close by, crouching down, staring with wide unblinking eyes. It was bordering on unsettling, but it was hard to look particularly creepy in a bright yellow dress and pink high-heeled flip flops.

“Wait, Uncle Remus is teaching this class? Why didn’t you tell me, Hermione?” Harry asked.

“Because you dinnae ask and you’re not supposed to be here anyway,” she hissed.

“I doubt he’ll mind t’at,” the other woman hummed, “Do you mind if I sat ‘ere? It’s too bright over t’ere for me to see.”

“Yes-”

“No, go ahead Luna,” Harry cut in.

He grinned brightly, a stark difference to Hermione’s grim scowl, and patting the chair next to him. Luna blinked one, looked between them, then nodded and sat down beside him.

“I hate you,” Hermione muttered.

“Shut it,” he said quietly. Then, in a louder voice, he addressed Luna. “You alright?”

“Quite fine Harry. Oh, I was going to ask t’ough, am I supposed to bring anyt’ing to Ron’s party?”

“You are going to Ron’s?” Hermione asked, the words tumbling out before she could help herself.

She was fairly certainly Ron liked Luna even less than her. Apparently, the first they’d met someone had tripped Luna up and so Ron found himself with a Tango flavoured top, and he’d never quite gotten over that.

Luna nodded her head, twirling around a pale curly between her fingertips. Even though she was mostly out of the sun now, she still caught by one stripe, and it lit up the curl like gold.

Behind her, the clock ticked on, a reminder to all that Mr Lupin was, once again, late. Hermione focused on that.

“Ginny and Percy invited me; it was very exciting. I’ve never been invited to a party by two people before.”

“You know Percy?”

“I told Ginny I wasn’t sure if university was a particularly autistic friendly place, and she suggested I talk to Percy about it and we’ve been friends ever since.”

Her resting smile briefly grew a full one where lips parted to reveal a gap between her teeth, and a freckle at the corner of her mouth was hidden in the dip of her dimple.

Hermione cleared her throat and gave her chest another thump.

“I don’t think you need to bring anything Luna, just yourself… and maybe a box of chocolate or Ron might take it personally.”

As if summoned by the talk of chocolate, the doors opened and Mr Lupin finally walked in. Well, he less so walked in as he did sprint in, hair a mess as he muttered curses beneath his breath. He reached his desk in record time and began riffling through his bag.

“Shit, shit, shit- ah, sorry class,” he called out, “I, uh- duw dammit- traffic was terrible.”

He turned away from his table to give a fanatic smile before going back to his fussing.

Hermione sighed and rubbed a hand down her face.

 _Perhaps_ , she thought, _I should move class._


	2. Hermione's House

Three days later, there was a knock on the door.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a strange thing. Lavender and Parvati were notorious for ordering more clothes than they could ever need, and Padma had a habit of ordering in whenever deadlines were coming up.

But usually, delivery people didn’t knock multiple times in the tune of ‘you are my sunshine’.

Hermione scrunched up her nose, scowling from her comfortable place on the sofa. Crookshanks was purring loudly, curled up on the arm of the sofa in a sunny spot, and Hermione herself had been halfway to falling asleep, her textbook a grounding weight on her lap, and one of Ron’s old shirts serving as a cosy nightie.

If the knocks hadn’t continued, she would have been tempted to stay where she was and let the package be hidden in the recycling bag by the door or dropped off with the neighbours (Padma was in class so it wasn’t like it could be food… though even if it was, Hermione still would have been happy to leave it). But they did, so she reluctantly forced herself up and stumbled to the door.

“…Luna?”

_What's more blinding_ , Hermione wondered, _Luna’s grin or the sun glowing behind her?_

Hermione winced, closing one eye and barely keeping the other open. _The sun, definitely the sun._

“Hello, Hermione.” Luna smiled, rocking on her heels. “I like your dress.”

“Actually, it’s-never mind,” she sighed, “What do you want?”

“Do you have the set texts for Mr Lupin’s class?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Would you mind if I borrowed it? I tripped and accidentally dropped my book in a puddle, and I don’t know anyone else in t'e class I could ask.”

Hermione winced again, though for a completely different reason this time. That very much seemed like Luna talk for ‘some dick tripped me up’.

“You tried the library?”

“No versions available, and even if I ordered a new copy-”

“It wouldn’t arrive before the homework is due.”

Luna nodded, her curls grazing her cheek like a paintbrush across a canvas. It seemed fitting, considering Luna’s outfit for today was completely paint-stained. Perhaps she had gone to that small café she liked to frequent, sitting outside with a small pot of tea as she tried to paint the people passing by.

Not that Hermione had ever paid particular attention to Luna’s café habits, at least not intentionally. Tuesdays always found her taking a path to the buses that went past that café at the same time Luna tended to paint there.

“…I need the book too,” Hermione argued.

She decided to blame her tiredness for how soft her voice came out.

Luna pulled out her phone, covered in stickers with at least three keyrings somehow attached, and gave it a little wave. The corner of Hermione’s

“Can I just take pictures of t’e pages I need t’en?”

Hermione leaned against the doorway, arms crossing. She was, for the briefest of seconds, painfully aware that Ron’s shirt barely reached halfway down her thigh, and tugged it down.

She did not like Luna. This was a fact. But for all of Luna’s strangeness, Hermione knew she was a hard worker, just like her. It wasn’t fair to fuck over Luna’s grades for a few comments about aliens.

“Alright.”

Luna smiled widely and a thing in Hermione’s chest jerked awkwardly.

“T’ank you so much.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The sun had warmed up her cheeks and she turned away quickly, leaving Luna to follow her inside.

Luna’s footsteps were near-silent, and she immediately wandered over to Crookshanks, who let out a quiet  _ mrroaw _ at the unexpected pet. He quickly accepted it though and went back to purring.

“He’s beautiful,” Luna cooed, “What’s his name?”

Hermione paused.

She loved Crookshanks, he was far more loving and smarter than Ron would ever give him credit for and was perfect to cuddle.

He was also incredibly ugly.

The only time Crookshanks ever got complimented on his looks were by visitors wearing forced smiles or biting back laughter. Luna though, as with all things she did, just seemed genuine. Somehow, she looked at this ugly thing and saw something beautiful.

Hermione cleared her throat and reached for her textbook.

Luna was weird.

“Crookshanks,” Hermione answered.

“Ah, I believe Percy has mentioned him before.”

She scrunched up her nose. Percy? Why would Percy bring up-

Oh. Scabbers.

She ran her hands over the smooth cover of the textbook, the smoothness of it soothing against her palm. 

Technically, no one had been able to prove that Crookshanks had… helped Scabbers pass on, so to speak, but on the other hand, no one had been able to prove that he hadn’t. Hermione wouldn’t be surprised if Percy was still a bit miffed about that.

She turned around and handed the book to Luna.

“He didn’t do it,” she felt the need to say, “He doesn’t like killing rats. He prefers bringing home leaves.”

Luna blinked once, then burst into laughter.

If Hermione had ever thought about it, which she hadn’t, she would have guessed that Luna was the sort of person to have a very quiet laugh that was airy and sweet.

Luna’s real laugh, however, made her think of a hyperventilating guinea pig. It was a combination of sharp breaths in and harsh high-pitched squeaks, and it lasted for precisely ten seconds.

Hermione’s heart hammered in her chest, trying to recover from the shock of whatever the fuck that was.

“T’at’s very cute,” Luna said eventually.

Without any further acknowledgement to  _ whatever the fuck that was _ , Luna flipped open the book and began taking pictures.

“I want a cat,” Luna commented randomly, “Did you get him from a place nearby?”

“Uh, yeah, from a shelter down the street.”

“Would you mind telling me about it? Not now, obviously. You could text me about it.”

She pulled a sticking note and a purple sharpie from her pocket and wrote something down quickly, sticking the note to the book once she was done. She grinned, handed the book back, and without another word walked out.

Hermione stared blankly at the window, watching Luna skip – literally skip – away. A second later, the door opened again and Padma walked in.

She yawned through a hello and headed in the direction of the kitchen, pausing when she saw the book.

“You got someone’s number?” She asked.

Perhaps if Hermione had been a little less self-aware, she would have been offended by the surprise clear in Padma’s voice. But she knew herself well enough to understand that yes, this was a shock.

“Uh, someone from one of my classes came over to borrow my textbook and then asked if I’d text her about where I got Crookshanks from.”

It was only after that had been said out loud that Hermione registered how weird that sounded.

Padma whistled, leaning over to look closer to the note.

“A star and a heart? Luna must like you.”

“Who said anything about Luna?”

Padma’s lip twitched, fighting back a smile and leaned back.

Hermione was the shortest out of everyone she knew, but when Padma slouched as she tended to do, she was almost Hermione’s height. If she was standing up straight, she was doing it deliberately to deliberately piss Hermione off.

Unfortunately, it was quite effective.

“You didn’t, but I know my ex’s handwriting.”

“I-Wait, ex?”

“It was nothing serious, don’t worry,” she said as she walked past, “So, when are you going to text her?”

Hermione frowned and followed her into the kitchen. Padma’s dug her milkshake out of the fridge and chugged down half it in one breath, not even bothering to pour it into a cup, and Hermione bit back a complaint.

Living with people meant comprise. Or in this case, keeping your mouth shut and silently judging your housemate’s habits.

“Why would I text her? She’s the one who wanted to ask me about the shelter,” she asked.

Padma raised one eyebrow elegantly, a full smile sneaking onto her lips.

“She wouldn’t leave you her number if she didn’t want you to talk. Now pass the watering can, will you? My succulents are thirsty and Neville will kill me if I kill them.”

She held back for three seconds before giving in and passing the ridiculously tiny water can over. 

“Neville wouldn’t kill you. Be disappointed? Yes. Kill you? No.”

“Disappointing Neville is like disappointing a puppy. You might as well be dead.”

Hermione had to agree with that and went back to reclaim her place on the sofa.

“You should send her that picture you took of Crookshanks last Halloween, she’ll love it,” Padma called out.

“Fuck off!”

The sound of her laughter was intermingled with the running tap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always found it a shame that Hermionie seemed to have no friends outside of Harry or Ron while they had plenty, so in this au she gets to other friends and actually gets on with Lavender and the twins.


	3. The Corner

It took Hermione a full two days after Luna’s visit to realise that actually, she did have to be the one to text first since Luna didn’t actually have her number.

She gnawed on a pen as she frowned at her phone.

Beside her, Lavender let out an unnecessarily loud sigh.

“Darling,” she began – she always resorted to darling when she thought Hermione was being particularly difficult – “Just say ‘hello this is Hermione’. That’s all you need to say.”

“Haven’t you got work to do?”

“How am I supposed to work when you’re having a pity party in the corner over a text you haven’t even sent yet?”

“Then work upstairs.”

Hermione didn’t need to look her way to know Lavender was giving her the ‘are you kidding me’ look. And deep down, she knew the look was warranted.

All Luna wanted was to know about the shelter, that was it.

_If it weren’t for the fact that we’re both going to Ron’s party_ , Hermione told herself, _I wouldn’t even bothering texting._

This, even Hermione knew, was a terrible lie. It would have nicked at her mind until she gave in, and when Luna responded happily like she hadn’t been waiting for god knows how many days (which she would because that was just who Luna was, according to Harry at least) she would have probably felt guilty.

Lavender sighed again, a little quieter this time, and leaned into Hermione’s space, her hoop earrings knocking against Hermione’s cheek. 

“You serious? You haven’t even finished making her contact yet? And ‘Lovegood’? Who are you, Draco?”

“Fuck you,” Hermione huffed.

She hesitated a second before replacing it to Luna.

“Better,” Lavender hummed, “Now say hello or I swear I’ll text her myself.”

A spike of anxiety stabbed her heart, and Hermione cradled her phone close. Desperately, she turned to Parvati who was sadly scraping out the last of the ice cream in the tub.

“Cannae you shut her up or something?” Hermione asked.

Parvati looked away from her ice-cream mournfully and shook her head.

“I can’t even convince her to wear matching socks, what makes you think she’ll listen to me if I tell her to shut it?”

“Love you too, babe,” Lavender deadpanned.

Parvati shot her a half-hearted finger gun before picking up her bowl, barely even half-filled.

“Do you love me enough to buy me more ice cream?”

Lavender tapped a perfectly manicured nail to her lips and Hermione stared at her phone.

“Make sure  _ Granger _ here texts Luna, and I will.”

Parvati abruptly sat up straight, eyes wide.

“I love you.”

“That’s more like it,” Lavender grinned, “Flavour?”

“Topped Love is Ben and Jerry’s.”

Laender nodded and pointed at Parvati.

“Good choice. Now bug.”

Parvati slid over, leaning over the back of the sofa, loudly eating her ice-cream.

Hermione wished, for a brief second, that she was religious so she could ask God to save her from this hell.

“Well, you got ‘hell’, that’s close to hello,” Parvati commented.

“Shut it.”

“Why are you making this so difficult? It’s just Luna.”

“I’m not making this difficult,” Hermione snapped.

“Yeah, that’s why you’re one miss click away from texting her the word ‘hell’.”

Hermione quickly pulled her hand away from the screen, just in case. Parvati took one quickly spoonful of her food before leaning down, typing in an O and pressing send.

“Parvati!” Hermione hissed.

“You were getting too worked up,” she shrugged, “Just look at your poor pen, it’s almost completely destroyed.”

Hermione winced, looking the multitude of small bite marks that covered the top of the pen. I really need to buy someone that’s made to be bitten instead of ruining all my pens.

“I would have dinn it eventually,” she huffed.

She tapped her screen with her nail one, two, three times before typing something else.

It’s Hermione.

“There, all done,” Parvati said as she plucked the pen out of Hermione’s grasp.

“How come you get free ice-cream out of this while I just get bothered?”

“You can have some.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

“Do you want some ice-cream or not?”

Hermione pursed her lips together tightly and nearly jumped when her phone vibrated. She blinked blankly at her screen, oblivious to Parvati’s quiet laugh.

** Luna **

Hello Hermione!!!

Hermione swallowed past the thing in her throat.

“What grown adult uses three exclamation points in a text?”

“A grown adult who’s happy to talk to you,” Parvati countered, “Come on, it’s cute.”

“She’s not cute.”

Parvati leaned over the sofa just to be in her eye line as she raised an eyebrow.

“Are we talking about the same Luna? Luna ‘I’m always late to class because I get distracted by cats and birds’ Lovegood? Luna ‘I make my own necklaces and braces’ Lovegood? Luna ‘I make silly faces at little kids just to make them laugh’ Lovegood?”

Hermione rubbed at her chest.

“I dinnae think your girlfriend would like you calling someone else cute?”

“I think my girlfriend would agree. Now dear god, don’t just ignore her just because you’ve managed to get that first message out.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Just making sure,” Parvati as she sat crossed-legged on the floor next to the tv.

She turned it on and Hermione found herself relaxing a bit at the familiar buzz of quiet background murmurings. She shuffled to find a more comfortable position on the sofa, took a deep breath, then began typing again.

**Hermione**

Sorry, I took a while to text back, I’ve been busy.

**Luna**

oh don’t worry, I knew you were!!! Harry said you’ve been working out a DND campaign in-between classes, and I know how much time that can take up!!!

Hermione cleared her throat, rubbing at her warm cheeks. She knew liking DnD was nothing to be embarrassed about, but she still felt it lick at my mind whenever someone else brought it up.

**Hermione**

It is quite time consuming.

**Luna**

do you play for the uni club or is it a separate group???

Weren’t they supposed to be talking about shelters? Hermione thought as she typed in her next reply.

**Hermione**

A separate group with Neville, Hannah and Padma.

**Luna**

do you think I could join??? i’ve been wanting to join a new campaign for ages!!

“Say yes.”

Hermione yelped, turning around to scowl at Padma.

“Why should I?”

“Because I’ll tell Neville if you say no.”

_ Fuck _ .

**Hermione**

You can.

“Good.”

Hermione flipped her off.

**Luna**

thank you so much!!!!

do you need to know about my character?

**Hermione**

That would be helpful.

**Luna**

she’s a faerie called Celeste and


	4. The Cafe

The next time she saw Luna in person, Luna silently pressed something against her palm, gave her an intense look, then left.

“Bye Luna,” Harry called out.

“Whaolthfucs,” Ron mumbled around his straw.

“Don’t be fucking rude.”

“Oh my god, shut up.”

Hermione ignored them both and uncurled her fingers. There were two badges and a note.

_ I made a few badges for me and my other friends and thought you might like some too!! 😊 _

_ Luna xxx _

The badges looked surprisingly good for being homemade. One had a trans flag on it, the other a lesbian flag, doodled on top of the flags were sparkly stars, hearts and moons. Hermione’s ribs twisted in her chest.

“Aw, Luna made you one too?” Harry asked. “She gave mine to Lavender to give to me, and Lavender threw them at my face.”

He tugged on his shirt, showing off the bisexual and asexual badges he had.

“I didn’ get one,” Ron huffed.

“That’s because you’re straight, Ron.”

Luna reappeared a second later.

“Sorry, I forgot.”

She placed two badges on his shoulder and left without another word.

Ron scowled picked them both up. One had a crown and the other a rat.

“Is she calling me a rat?”

“I think that’s supposed to be Scabbers,” Harry said.

“Oh.”

Ron frowned. Still, he put the two badges carefully in his pocket.

Hermione dropped them into her satchel, making sure it was completely closed before looking back up at the other two.

They were hanging outside the classroom of Ron’s next class, a habit they’d started up after Ron had complained about not getting on with anyone else in that class. Although he wouldn’t admit it, Hermione had a feeling he appreciated having them around for that extra five minutes until the lecturer came.

“You know, Hermione,” Harry began, “Me, her and Neville were going to going to finally check out that little cake shop-cafe thing after Ron’s class starts, you should come along, it’ll be like a double date.”

Hermione scowled and rubbed at her cheek.

“I’m not going on a double date.”

“It was a joke.”

“You migh' as well, Mione,” Ron chimed in, “You’ve been talking about tha' café for weeks now.”

“But Luna-”

“So what?”

“I don’t like her.”

Ron crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.

“Said she made badges for her friends, so your friend, right?”

“I- She made you one too!”

“I know… we made up.”

“I locked them in the back garden until Ron apologised,” Harry said with a grin.

“Yeah, fuck you for tha',” Ron huffed, “But seriously, I know she’s weird, but… she’s nice, I guess.”

“Come on Mione, it’s just some drinks and a cake,” Harry tried, “… _I’m paying_.”

_Ah. Now that was different._

“For everything?” She asked.

Harry’s smirk was painfully obnoxious. If he wasn’t offering free food, she would have told him to stuff it and walk away.

“Everything.”

“…Fine.”

Even with the prospect of free food, Hermione couldn’t hold back her scowl. It stubbornly stayed as Ron went into class, as they sat on the bus and as they walked up to the café.

Luna and Neville had chosen a table outside and were away chatting animatedly, eyes alight. Luna had ribbons in her hair and Neville had a streak of dirt on his cheek, and if it weren’t that fact that she knew Neville was taken, she would have assumed they were together.

She cleared her throat and took a seat next to Luna. It wasn’t like she could take Harry seat next to Neville after all.

Harry wiped away the dirt, replaced it with a quick kiss, then turned to the girls.

“Hope you don’t mind, but I dragged Hermione along with me.”

“I don’t mind at all Harry,” Luna hummed, “It’s always nice having more friends around.”

“And more people around to argue about whether or not Pluto should be considered a part of the solar system.”

“It’s not, it’s a dwarf planet,” Hermione argued.

“It’s not about what it is, t'is is about whet'er Pluto deserves to be a part of t'e solar system,” Luna retorted, “And I believe it does.”

Hermione pushed her sleeves up and leaned forward, watching the way Luna looked at her, her smile strangely close to a smirk. She looked away from the lips, focusing on the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose, conjuring up all that she knew about Pluto.

Unsurprisingly though, the astrology student knew a lot about space and had plenty of arguments to make. Hermione didn’t lose, of course, but she did take a break after the cakes arrived.

Luna hummed and swung her feet back and forth as she ate and, occasionally, the tips of her sandals would brush against Hermione’s leg. Her hair lit up like a reflection of a sunset against water when she moved, and her gaze was soft whenever it landed on Hermione.

Hermione wasn’t keeping track, obviously, but Luna’s eyes found her a lot.

When the men had wandered off to have a romantic walk down the loud, busy street, the woman stayed, soaking up the last of the sunshine.

The next bus was in twenty minutes, and that was plenty of time to finish the argument about Pluto. 

They still managed to find a way to restart it on the bus back home, though, and Hermione gentle buzz of her phone every few seconds a strangely soothing feel.


	5. Ron's House

“I think you jus’ like her, Hermione.”

“I dinnae even tolerate her, never mind like.”

Percy raised an eyebrow (he’d taught himself to do that, he’d admitted once, over one summer just to annoy the twins who couldn’t do it), one arm firmly slung around Oliver’s waist, trying to keep him upright.

The party had barely begun, but he was already half asleep. Hermione just hoped he wouldn’t snore through the happy birthday; Ron would definitely take that personally.

It wasn’t a big party (and Hermione had no doubt that Molly would have some complaints when she finally arrived) mostly a result of the house being fairly small, but it still wasn’t half bad. Shinny banners hung from every wall, door, and most flat services, a multitude of rainbow balloons bobbed around in groups five, tied down with whatever heavy thing they could find. The coffee table, kitchen table and the kitchen counters were all covered in enough food and drinks to feed the entirety of Noah’s Ark at least twice and there was a pile of presents hidden in the corner next to one of Neville’s plants like a weird summer Christmas tree.

Harry had bought a plastic crown from a toy shop that the birthday boy wore alongside a cape (curtsy of Luna) as he walked around, preening from all the attention.

It wasn’t exactly as in your face as a Molly-made party, but Hermione thought it did the job quite well.

“You don’ regularly text someone you don’ like,” Percy argued.

“Hesa poin,” Oliver mumbled.

Angelina appeared at Percy’s side, peering down at her ex-captain with a grin.

“Aye, want me to drop him off in Harry’s bed for a quick nap? He won’t mind.”

“You’re a godsend,” he sighed as he handed his boyfriend over, “He stayed up all night writing an essay like the dumbass he is.”

“Yourdumsass,” Oliver muttered as he was dragged away.

Percy gave him a fond grin before turning back to Hermione. He was hunched over slightly, a bit too tall for small house, a swirling beer around in a wineglass. It made her feel a little better when she saw tall people being awkward, it gave her a brief gust of smugness, just enough to get through the day.

“I’m not joking, yeah,” he carried on because Percy was a dick, “But back when I first met Ollie, I swore I hated his guts, but look where we are now.”

He flashed the ring on his finger, looking a million dollars despite the space-themed Hawaiian shirt he was currently wearing. Hermione wondered who was responsible for that.

“Hell, he proposed?”

He grinned then pulled off the ring and slipped it into his pocket.

“Yes, but Ron will kill me if I interrupt his party to announce it, so can you keep it quiet until tomorrow?”

“Molly will kill you for not saying anything.”

“Wha’ Mam doesn’ know won’ kill her, and I have no plans to tell her when Ollie actually proposed. Anyway, Like I was saying, I used to hate him, or I thought I hated him, but I was wrong. I jus’ didn’ understand wha’ I was feeling for him, and it sounds like it’s the same for you.”

Hermione swallowed and looked away.

“Yeah but-”

“No, butt, jus’ go talk to her,” he said, gesturing with his glass. He narrowly avoided spilling some on the carpet but seemed oblivious to that fact. “She didn’ really want to come until I said you were going.”

Percy’s accent always got thicker when he was a bit tipsy, and focusing on that was better than focusing on the actual words he was saying.

“So?”

He looked at her, downed his drink, then whistled and clicked his fingers.

“Luna!”

“Jesus Christ, Percy, shut up!” Hermione hissed.

Percy ignored her, that prick.

Luna looked up from the crisp bowl and happily wandered over.

“Hello, Percy.”

Luna’s outfit for today was… interesting, as most outfits of her's were. Bright orange shorts with what had to at least three different shirts all piled on top of each other finished off with a denim jacket covered in pink polka dots.

She had also lost her shoes somewhere but made up for their absence with multiple ankle bracelets which clicked whenever she moved her feet.

“Hello. Talk to Hermione.”

And with that he briskly stalked off, probably to find more beer.

Hermione kept her eyes on Percy’s retreating back, trying to battle down the strange churning in her gut.

“It’s a lovely party, isn’t it? And- oh. You wearing the badges I made you.”

Luna gave each one a tap, smile wide and open.

Hermione wondered if she was about to throw up.

“Thanks. For them. I dinnae say that when you first gave them to me.”

“You didn’t need to, but I appreciate it anyway.”

Luna bounced on her heels, hair bobbing along with her. Hermione took a big gulp of her drink.

“We finally got our cat,” she said, “We played rock, paper, scissors for the name and Cho won, so he’s called Yun. Do you t’ink him and Crookshanks could have playdates?”

She wanted to act like a normal human being, she really did, but Percy’s words were bouncing around in her skull, crashing into memories of Luna’s smile and engagements rings and-

God.

Luna was really pretty.

“Hermione?”

“Sure. Bet he’d loved that,” she blurted out.

“I t’ink Yun would like t’at too. He was surrounded by other cats in the shelter and I worry he would miss t’at if he didn’t get to interact with other cats at all after moving in wit’ us…”

At some point, Luna’s words stopped processing as words in Hermione’s mind, melting down to incomprehensible but soothing sounds that filled Hermione’s mind, but did nothing to drown out the pounding of her heart.

_ This is the ‘aliens are real’ girl, why the fuck am I getting so worked up about this? _

There was a sudden break in the buzzing of her mind as a pale hand wrapped around her wrist. Everything stopped and she stared at it blankly.

“Hermione, are you alright? You seem a bit overwhelmed,” Luna said quietly, “We could step outside for a few minutes if you want.”

She nodded, letting Luna pull her out the front door in the silence, all the while keeping her eyes on the other hand.

When they had stopped at the edge of the pavement, Luna began to gently rub circles in Hermione’s wrist. A warm breeze drifted past them and Hermione closed her eyes, taking in a deep breathe. Behind her, she could hear the noise of the party rattling on and it was strangely grounding.

“It’s all right,” Luna murmured, “I struggle with parties too.”

_It wasn’t the party_ , Hermione wanted to say, but her lips seemed stuck firmly together.

Luna was pretty.

Luna was kind.

Luna, despite her bizarre interest in aliens and defence of Pluto, was smart.

Luna was.

Hermione breathed in deep one last time, then caught Luna’s hand in her free one. Luna stopped still, blinking as she looked down at the mess of their hands.

“Hermione?”

“Y-You’re nice.”

Hermione bit back a groan. What the fuck was that?

“I t’ink you’re nice too.”

Hermione felt her shoulders relax. Of course Luna wasn’t going to pick up on how dumb that was, and even if she did, she was Luna, why would she-

“Would you like to go on a date with me, Hermione?”

Hermione’s brain short-circuited.

“Not now, obviously,” Luna continued, “But maybe tomorrow?”

She felt strangely disconnected from herself.

“Percy’s announcing his engagement tomorrow,” she mumbled.

“Really? Oh, good for them. Maybe t’e day after t’en?”

One of Luna’s nail accidentally dug into Hermione skin for a brief second and that was enough to abruptly shake her out of the fog.

Luna was smiley softly, swaying ever so slightly, no doubt along to the song playing inside.

“I-Wait, a date? You want to go on a date with me? But why?”

“Because I like you. And you like me. I wasn’t sure before, but I talked to Percy after t’at first lecture and he said you probably did. He’s usually right so I believed him.”

Percy was getting a punch to the face and a cake tomorrow Hermione decided. The question was which one first?

“I guess he is...”

“So?”

“Y-Yeah. I would like that.”

Luna’s smile was blinding.

“I’m very glad.”

The thing that had been curled up and clawing in her chest unfurled and relaxed, stretching out to every part of her body and making her fingertips tingle.

“Me too.”

They stood there, grins gentle and eyes even softer, swaying their hands between each other for a good few moments.

Then someone opened the door.

“Mam’s jus’ around the corner,” Percy said with a sheepish grin, “I thought you would prefer being interrupted by me rather than her.”

_Of course._

“Oh, and congratulations.”

Punch, he was definitely getting a punch first.

Luna let out a quiet chuckle as Percy ducked back into the house, and Hermione couldn’t even find it in herself to be that mad.

“Ready to head back in then?”

Hermione’s shifted her grip until Luna’s fingers were firmly laced between her own and nodded.

“Someone’s got to stop Ron from eating all the cake.”

Luna’s laugh was loud and beautifully obnoxious as they wandered back inside, and everything was utterly perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew if I didn't get this all done in one day then I'd just end up leaving it unfinished forever, so if the end feels a bit rushed, sorry but I'd rather it be a bit rushed than unfinished.


End file.
